Driver Performance while Interacting with the 511 Travel Information System in Urban and Rural Traffic

The national “511” highway information system is heavily used by drivers, especially during inclement weather, to plan and replan their trips. Few studies have explored the safety and usability of the 511 user interface, especially in the context of a mobile phone user who has the added workload of driving a vehicle. In this study, 36 drivers were divided into three groups (hand-held cell phone, hands-free cell phone, and control group) and drove a series of urban and rural scenarios in a high fidelity driving simulator. Drivers in the cell phone groups interacted with the Montana 511 travel information system to obtain road information on a segment of highway. Performance on the primary driving task (e.g., lanekeeping and speed control) was not affected by use of the 511 traveler information system. Driving tasks that required urgent attention (e.g., responding to unexpected traffic conflicts) were degraded by using the 511 travel system regardless of the type of phone used. Drivers using either cell phone to interact with the 511 information system were found to have a higher number of collisions and less situation awareness than those not interacting with the 511 system. Drivers using a hand-held cell phone were also found to have a higher frequency of braking responses. The increased crash risk of the phone users in our study (3.0 - 3.8) was very comparable to that reported by earlier studies of the risk of cell phone conversations.

• Record URL:
  • http://drivingassessment.uiowa.edu/DA2005/PDF/71_Stanley_Kellyformat.pdf
• 
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9780874141511
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Iowa, Iowa City

  Public Policy Center
  227 South Quadrangle
  Iowa City, IA  United States  52242-1192
• Authors:
  • Stanley, Laura M
  • Kelly, Michael J
  • Lassacher, Suzanne
• Conference:
  • Driving Assessment 2005: 3rd International Driving Symposium on Human Factors in Driver Assessment, Training, and Vehicle Design
  • Location: Rockport Maine, United States
  • Date: 2005-6-27 to 2005-6-30
• Publication Date: 2005

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Figures; Photos; References;
• Pagination: 7p
• Monograph Title: Proceedings of the 3rd International Driving Symposium on Human Factors in Driver Assessment, Training, and Vehicle Design, Rockport, Maine, June 27-30, 2005

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Attention; Awareness; Braking; Cellular telephones; Crash risk forecasting; Crashes; Distraction; Drivers; Driving simulators; Highway safety; Highway traffic; Mobile telephones; Performance; Rural areas; Traffic crashes; Traffic safety; Traveler information and communication systems; Urban areas; Weather
• Identifier Terms: 511 (National Travel Information Number)
• Uncontrolled Terms: Conversation while driving; Usability; Workload (Drivers)
• Geographic Terms: Montana
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01010714
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 9780874141511
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 8 2005 12:29PM